When you live in a small town especially one like mine, there's not really that much interesting things to do when it comes to entertainment. You practically have to find things to do on your own that is somewhat fun so you don't bore yourself to death. So that is why when I woke up this morning after taking my shower, changing and eating breakfast. I decided to head out into the woods for a hike because the last time I got some exercise was in P.E yesterday. I left a note to my mom on the kitchen table so she wouldn't blow up my phone later on in worry asking where I was. Then I grabbed my black and white chucks from beside the front door and my keys then went outside. Our house wasn't anything fancy when you examined it from out here. It was one of those average cozy sized homes that you see on the side of the road. There were three rooms; mine that face the front yard and my mother's room that was down the hall next to the guest room and two bathrooms. It had a bit of grass space that a dog could run around freely on at the side of the house, and was surrounded by trees in the back yard. I've lived in this house ever since I was born so I couldn't picture myself living anywhere else. It held so many memories including some that involved my dad who did live here when I was a kid before he divorced my mom and got remarried.

He doesn't even live in the same town as we do anymore though much to my dismay. Because both he and his wife Anna moved to Tybee Island, Georgia so that they could live by the beach. I go there to visit them some times on holidays whenever my dad wants to see me. Although there are days when I do hate going there only because I can't swim to save my life despite how many lessons I was force to take. So when their out surfing or snorkeling, I kind of just sit around on their porch waiting for them to come out of the water or just search the sand for seashells. I could tell that my mom misses him frequently by the way she stares at old family photos when she thinks im not looking. She sniffles and eventually lets out a tear but wipes it away so I wouldn't see. She owns and works at a local diner in town named after her called Penny's Diner. It was quite a popular restaurant and a hangout spot for teens my age. That's why I figured that's where she went when I didn't see her in the house this morning. Sighing I made my way towards the woods in my back yard and began walking into the forest. The forest seemed alive with the aroma of pine, flowers and mulch. A little further in the darkness of the canopy of trees I was engulfed as if in a lovers arms in the wee hours of the morning, only the sound of birds chirping their secret language and the fresh rays of the sun's shining light, greeted me. I was the kind of girl that liked walking around and exploring in the woods. It eased my mind and calmed my soul as I thought about everything and anything that crossed it. There was a time where I literally almost spent a whole day out here just wondering around. At first my mother thought it was really weird, but she's grown use to it because it became a routine for me every Saturday morning or when I'm able to after school.

I stopped walking when I found my favorite spot. It was a small creek that was as shallow as a swimming pool to the point where squirrels could take a dive. The trees emerged from the ground and tightly surrounded me as an impenetrable wall swaying over my head. The creek water was clear and flowed against the rocks that were at the bottom quietly. I took a seat against a rock at the edge of the grass and leaned back and closed my eyes. I was so happy that it was the weekend because of how horrible school was for me yesterday. For starters, it wasn't just always only my parents and I who lived in our house before the divorce. My older brother Dallas lived in it to before he died two years ago. His death was the reason why my parents divorced in the first place, because they both blamed each other for not being there for him when he needed them. Both my brother and I were a lot alike because we were twins. We both liked nature and being outdoors, both were stubborn, had the same short tempers and same taste in music. The list could go on. He died by an animal attack when we both went camping in these same woods on our fifteenth birthday. Where he died was actually not that far from where the creek was. I was building a fire before it happened, and we needed more wood so he got up from where he sat next to me on a log and went to go get some. After he left and time had gone by as I had been building the fire, a fog appeared from the trees and I heard a loud terrorized scream. I got up immediately and ran into the area where he had gone. My hand covered my mouth when I found and saw his body just lying there on the ground with blood drenching from his neck all the way down to his stomach. I broke down crying and into a run when I heeded the sound of twigs and chopped off branches snapping on the ground. Once I got back home I told my parents what happened, when they asked why I had so much blood on my clothes and where Dallas had been. They called the police just as I finished explaining and I took them back to where Dallas's body was only to find it missing. The police carted off the area with yellow tape for months and reported my brother as missing back at the station. However after months went by and we didn't hear or received any thing, they closed off the case and took down the tape. It wasn't easy for my family because we had so many questions, but didn't get any answers so as hard as it was we tried to move on. Although moving on wasn't easy for me when other kids at school eye ogled me with sympathy all day. Or they would whisper about me in the halls, cafeteria or in the classroom when they think I can't hear them. Pine Creek, Georgia had a population of 3000 people. Therefore situations like what happened to my brother traveled fast in my town and was still the topic people liked to talk about over coffee. Besides my brother's disappearance, the latest news around town was about the Lynch's. A family that lived in a house two blocks from mine near the opposite side of the forest.

They left town around the time of my brother's accident and now they were back. Nobody really knows where they had moved to except the fact that Mrs. Lynch was offered a new teaching job and she took it. Now that they had returned and re-bought the house that they owned before they left, everyone was starting to gossip about them instead. The Lynch's had three children from what I could remember or know of. Two boys and a girl and I think their names were Ross, Riker and Rdyel.